11 ms·

I live in Phalodi. The place which recorded 51°Celsius, the highest temperature ever recorded in India. AMA!

by skbohra123 7y ago

ollie87 7y ago
How do you even breath in 50°C heat? Does it hurt?
- skbohra123 7y ago
  Well, it's certainly tough. The heat wave makes it impossible to get outside. All you can do is stay indoors in air-conditioner.
  - mruts 7y ago
    What percentage of the population has air conditioners? Also, what do you think would happen if you didn’t have one? I honestly can’t imagine that kind of heat and how people could even survive in it.
    - skbohra123 7y ago
      I would say less than 10%. Desert coolers are quite effective here, due to the no-humidity, which are way cheaper. I imagine, people who live here have the bodies adapted to it. Also, the house structures, food and other things have traditionally been developed keeping in mind the extreme heat, so I think that makes a lots of difference.
- Filligree 7y ago
  Breathing per se should be fine. If you've ever been in a sauna, you'll know you can breathe air even when it's above the boiling point -- not for very long, to be sure, but that's got more to do with the extreme rate of sweating than your lungs. The lungs are always wet, which keeps them cool from evaporation.
- rimliu 7y ago
  People go to saunas where it is above 100 so 50 should not be that bad. Of course, I do not imagine anything productive can be done. OTOH, is it not close to working conditions in some mines? That sounds like hell.
  - ollie87 7y ago
    Above 100°C? So saunas that are hotter than boiling water?
    - lovemenot 7y ago
      That's right. Almost any sauna would be like this. Try one in your country and check the thermometer for yourself. The air is so dry. When someone throws water on the coals, then you really feel it in your lungs.
    - onemoresoop 7y ago
      They are but theres very low humidity. Water at that temperature would boil and we know what happens when we stick a finger in boiled water. For that reason 120C is bearable in saunas. For a short period of time though
- singularity2001 7y ago
  have you ever been in a 120°C sauna? It's not that bad ... if you can leave after 15 minutes ;)
_Understated_ 7y ago
I wonder what happens to sweat in that level of heat? The normal cycle would be Hot Weather > Sweat > Evaporation > Cool down a bit. But I imagine there is a time component in there meaning if it's soooo hot, does the much faster evaporation make cooling down more or less efficient?
- Filligree 7y ago
  Evaporating a given amount of water takes the same energy regardless of air temperature, but of course it'll evaporate faster, yes. Low humidity makes it bearable, though you need to drink a lot.
- skbohra123 7y ago
  It's hot here, but the humidity is almost 0%, which makes it bearable as compared to heat in cities like Chennai. Sweating is still efficient I would say, nights are certainly cooler in the area due to the sand dunes, which gets cooled quicker.
- earthtolazlo 7y ago
  There is a point where the combination of heat and humidity means that humans can’t cool themselves adequately and die, even in the shade. This is happening more and more, and seems likely to start happening in places like eastern China and the US sooner than people think. https://robertscribbler.com/tag/wet-bulb-temperatures-35-c/ https://robertscribbler.com/tag/wet-bulb-temperatures-35-c/
oAlbe 7y ago
Has it happened to you to go to bed and feeling the sheets warm against your skin the moment you laid down? I'm asking because this is something that happened to me for the first time this year (a few weeks ago, when the EU "heatwave" reached its peak pretty much all around. We had peaks of 45C "felt" temperature where I live), and it was the weirdest thing. Usually when I lay in bed the sheets are always cooler than my skin, sometimes you roll around in them in search for some of that quickly disappearing coolness. That time instead, I laid in bed and I felt like I was going to cook. The whole bed was warmer than my skin, despite the fan pointed on it and on me. Rolling around was pointless, both sides of the pillow were warm against my head. Really a weird experience.
- skbohra123 7y ago
  All the time! Beds are always hotter here. Also the running water from the overhead tanks is so hot that it can burn your skin. With the India style bathrooms, you can imagine the horror.
  - eklavya 7y ago
    "With Indian style toilets", I know, my hometown is Jaipur. For the rest, In Indian style toilets, you don't wipe your ass, you splash it clean either with a water jet or your hands. So hot water .....
    - kranner 7y ago
      You store it in a bucket and let it cool down and eschew the water jet in favour of a mug filled from the bucket. This is not just for, er, washing but also for a bucket bath. It may be a good idea to paint the outside of the rooftop water tank with white reflective paint.
      - eklavya 7y ago
        I am used to it being hot, it's not burning (at least not severely :D ) hot. Too inconvenient otherwise.
Tade0 7y ago
Do you even manage to get anything done in such temperature? How hot it is during the night?
- skbohra123 7y ago
  Temperature usually fluctuates between 45-50 in peak summer days. That is the time when you cannot do much outside, but people do work. Most people have air coolers or air-conditioners at home and work. Nights are relatively cooler, but heat waves can continue till late night as well.
  - PeterisP 7y ago
    Do these regions in India something similar to the tradition in some Mediterranean areas where it's expected that noone works in the hottest hours in the middle of the day, everyone's in shade resting, and instead you work both early and late in the day when it's not so hot?
- saiya-jin 7y ago
  I recall from my trip in 2008, doing camel safari from Jaisalmer (west india, Thar desert, amazing place). I counted plastic bottles and drank 6 litres of water just on the camel, and literally nothing came out of me. Sweat quickly evaporated in that low humidity environment. It was around 45-50 degrees outside, just sitting on that animal, slowly moving around. At one point, I nearly collapsed from heat fatigue. It was just a sudden weakness, my head spinned a bit, I had to sit down and after few minutes I was a bit better. This was 3rd month backpacking in india, so one would expect at least slight adjustment. In cities, you just move from one AC place to the other and suffer through short periods outside of it (in fact heat subjectively gets much worse if you stay predominantly in AC place). I can't imagine people doing any physical work under these conditions. There are some hard limits on human biology

I live in Phalodi. The place which recorded 51°Celsius, the highest temperature ever recorded in India. AMA!

ollie87 7y ago

How do you even breath in 50°C heat? Does it hurt?

skbohra123 7y ago
Well, it's certainly tough. The heat wave makes it impossible to get outside. All you can do is stay indoors in air-conditioner.
- mruts 7y ago
  What percentage of the population has air conditioners? Also, what do you think would happen if you didn’t have one? I honestly can’t imagine that kind of heat and how people could even survive in it.
  - skbohra123 7y ago
    I would say less than 10%. Desert coolers are quite effective here, due to the no-humidity, which are way cheaper. I imagine, people who live here have the bodies adapted to it. Also, the house structures, food and other things have traditionally been developed keeping in mind the extreme heat, so I think that makes a lots of difference.
Filligree 7y ago
Breathing per se should be fine. If you've ever been in a sauna, you'll know you can breathe air even when it's above the boiling point -- not for very long, to be sure, but that's got more to do with the extreme rate of sweating than your lungs. The lungs are always wet, which keeps them cool from evaporation.
rimliu 7y ago
People go to saunas where it is above 100 so 50 should not be that bad. Of course, I do not imagine anything productive can be done. OTOH, is it not close to working conditions in some mines? That sounds like hell.
- ollie87 7y ago
  Above 100°C? So saunas that are hotter than boiling water?
  - lovemenot 7y ago
    That's right. Almost any sauna would be like this. Try one in your country and check the thermometer for yourself. The air is so dry. When someone throws water on the coals, then you really feel it in your lungs.
  - onemoresoop 7y ago
    They are but theres very low humidity. Water at that temperature would boil and we know what happens when we stick a finger in boiled water. For that reason 120C is bearable in saunas. For a short period of time though
singularity2001 7y ago
have you ever been in a 120°C sauna? It's not that bad ... if you can leave after 15 minutes ;)

_Understated_ 7y ago

I wonder what happens to sweat in that level of heat? The normal cycle would be Hot Weather > Sweat > Evaporation > Cool down a bit. But I imagine there is a time component in there meaning if it's soooo hot, does the much faster evaporation make cooling down more or less efficient?

Filligree 7y ago
Evaporating a given amount of water takes the same energy regardless of air temperature, but of course it'll evaporate faster, yes. Low humidity makes it bearable, though you need to drink a lot.
skbohra123 7y ago
It's hot here, but the humidity is almost 0%, which makes it bearable as compared to heat in cities like Chennai. Sweating is still efficient I would say, nights are certainly cooler in the area due to the sand dunes, which gets cooled quicker.
earthtolazlo 7y ago
There is a point where the combination of heat and humidity means that humans can’t cool themselves adequately and die, even in the shade. This is happening more and more, and seems likely to start happening in places like eastern China and the US sooner than people think. https://robertscribbler.com/tag/wet-bulb-temperatures-35-c/ https://robertscribbler.com/tag/wet-bulb-temperatures-35-c/

oAlbe 7y ago

Has it happened to you to go to bed and feeling the sheets warm against your skin the moment you laid down? I'm asking because this is something that happened to me for the first time this year (a few weeks ago, when the EU "heatwave" reached its peak pretty much all around. We had peaks of 45C "felt" temperature where I live), and it was the weirdest thing. Usually when I lay in bed the sheets are always cooler than my skin, sometimes you roll around in them in search for some of that quickly disappearing coolness. That time instead, I laid in bed and I felt like I was going to cook. The whole bed was warmer than my skin, despite the fan pointed on it and on me. Rolling around was pointless, both sides of the pillow were warm against my head. Really a weird experience.

skbohra123 7y ago
All the time! Beds are always hotter here. Also the running water from the overhead tanks is so hot that it can burn your skin. With the India style bathrooms, you can imagine the horror.
- eklavya 7y ago
  "With Indian style toilets", I know, my hometown is Jaipur. For the rest, In Indian style toilets, you don't wipe your ass, you splash it clean either with a water jet or your hands. So hot water .....
  - kranner 7y ago
    You store it in a bucket and let it cool down and eschew the water jet in favour of a mug filled from the bucket. This is not just for, er, washing but also for a bucket bath. It may be a good idea to paint the outside of the rooftop water tank with white reflective paint.
    - eklavya 7y ago
      I am used to it being hot, it's not burning (at least not severely :D ) hot. Too inconvenient otherwise.

Tade0 7y ago

Do you even manage to get anything done in such temperature? How hot it is during the night?

skbohra123 7y ago
Temperature usually fluctuates between 45-50 in peak summer days. That is the time when you cannot do much outside, but people do work. Most people have air coolers or air-conditioners at home and work. Nights are relatively cooler, but heat waves can continue till late night as well.
- PeterisP 7y ago
  Do these regions in India something similar to the tradition in some Mediterranean areas where it's expected that noone works in the hottest hours in the middle of the day, everyone's in shade resting, and instead you work both early and late in the day when it's not so hot?
saiya-jin 7y ago
I recall from my trip in 2008, doing camel safari from Jaisalmer (west india, Thar desert, amazing place). I counted plastic bottles and drank 6 litres of water just on the camel, and literally nothing came out of me. Sweat quickly evaporated in that low humidity environment. It was around 45-50 degrees outside, just sitting on that animal, slowly moving around. At one point, I nearly collapsed from heat fatigue. It was just a sudden weakness, my head spinned a bit, I had to sit down and after few minutes I was a bit better. This was 3rd month backpacking in india, so one would expect at least slight adjustment. In cities, you just move from one AC place to the other and suffer through short periods outside of it (in fact heat subjectively gets much worse if you stay predominantly in AC place). I can't imagine people doing any physical work under these conditions. There are some hard limits on human biology